310 Days and Counting

 

No one has questioned me about nursing homes. It was that dictator up in Albany who is at fault.  

I still have 310 days to go, will he?

Assembly Member Nathalia Fernandez - Black HERstory Month Event, February 26th

 

Hello:

We would like to invite you all to join our “Black HERstory Month” virtual event with Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez.

The event will be held on Friday, February 26^th, at 7:00pm VIA Zoom. - Meeting ID: 886 9378 4432

Join us for a conversation about Black and Brown Girl Magic with Talitha Cumi and Alternatives of Not On My Watch

The conversation will include guest speaker:

• Pamela Damon, Youth Director

 

Best Regards,

New York State Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez

Former COO Of Publicly Traded Biopharmaceutical Company Sentenced For Accounting Fraud

 Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that WILLIAM TAYLOR, the former chief operating officer of MiMedx Group, Inc. (“MiMedx”), a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to one year in prison for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar scheme to fraudulently inflate MiMedx’s revenue.  TAYLOR and co-defendant Parker H. Petit were found guilty on November 19, 2020, following a four-week jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who imposed today’s sentence.  Judge Rakoff sentenced Petit to one year in prison in a separate proceeding yesterday.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Strauss said:  “William Taylor and his co-defendant used secret agreements and corrupt financial inducements to materially misstate quarterly and annual sales revenue of MiMedx.  They deceived the SEC, auditors, and the investing public.  Now Taylor, like Parker Petit yesterday, has been sentenced to prison for his crimes.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment and the evidence presented at trial:

MiMedx was headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, and its securities traded under the symbol “MDXG” on the NASDAQ.  MiMedx sold regenerative biologic products, such as skin grafts and amniotic fluid, both directly to end users, such as public and private hospitals, and to various stocking distributors, which, in turn, resold the product to end users. 

One of the most critical financial metrics disclosed in MiMedx’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and touted in MiMedx’s accompanying press releases, was MiMedx’s quarterly and annual sales revenue.  Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and SEC guidance, a company like MiMedx that engages in the sale of products through a distributor may recognize revenue upon transfer of the product to a distributor if certain requirements are satisfied, including that delivery has occurred or services have been rendered, the seller’s price to the buyer is fixed or determinable, and collectability of payment is reasonably assured.  TAYLOR and Petit, MiMedx’s former chief executive officer, repeatedly demonstrated and touted their understanding of these rules governing revenue recognition.  They also publicly identified revenue as the principal metric reflecting MiMedx’s growth, and touted MiMedx’s consistent record of quarter-over-quarter revenue growth and meeting or exceeding revenue guidance in 17 consecutive quarters, from 2011 through year-end 2015.  By 2015, however, it became increasingly difficult for MiMedx to reach its revenue guidance due to decreased demand from certain distributors and the increasingly aggressive revenue targets that MiMedx had publicly announced. 

Confronted with the difficulties faced by MiMedx in meeting its quarterly and annual revenue guidance by legitimate means, TAYLOR and Petit orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to falsely recognize revenue upon the shipment of MiMedx product to four stocking distributors, CPM, SLR, Stability Biologics (“Stability”), and First Medical, in the second through fourth quarters of 2015.  TAYLOR and Petit caused MiMedx to report fraudulently inflated revenue figures to the investing public in order to ensure that the reported figures fell within MiMedx’s publicly announced revenue guidance, and to fraudulently convey to the investing public that MiMedx was accomplishing consistent growth quarter after quarter, as TAYLOR and Petit had falsely touted to the investing public.  The fraudulent scheme involved the following central features:

• As to CPM, in the second quarter of 2015, TAYLOR and Petit caused MiMedx fraudulently to recognize $1.4 million in revenue by (1) making a $200,000 sham “consulting” payment to CPM’s owner to bribe CPM to buy MiMedx product and (2) secretly agreeing to send CPM approximately $1.1 million of product it did not want and did not intend to sell, while promising that CPM could return the product to MiMedx and swap it for different product in a subsequent quarter.  TAYLOR and Petit entered into the sham “consulting” agreement to conceal that the payment was a bribe to purchase product, and CPM’s owner performed no consulting work for the payment.  Neither TAYLOR nor Petit disclosed to MiMedx’s outside auditors the “consulting” payment or product swap. 

• As to SLR, in the third quarter of 2015, TAYLOR and Petit caused MiMedx fraudulently to recognize $4.6 million in revenue by booking the revenue despite understanding that SLR would not make a timely payment for the product, and certainly would not do so within contractual terms.  To hide from MiMedx’s auditors that the collectability of payment from SLR was questionable, during the fourth quarter 2015, Petit arranged for his adult children to use a shell company to loan money to SLR (money that came from a trust fund established by Petit for their benefit), with the understanding that the loan proceeds would be used in substantial part to pay down SLR’s debt to MiMedx.

• As to Stability, in the third and fourth quarters of 2015, TAYLOR and Petit caused MiMedx improperly to recognize $2.6 million of revenue, where they (1) failed to agree with Stability on the essential terms of the deal, including when payment was due; (2) reached a secret understanding that Stability could swap or return unwanted product in subsequent quarters; and (3) understood that Stability could not pay for the product in a timely fashion.  In fact, TAYLOR later signed a sham distribution agreement to hide the fact that the original sale had been made without agreement on the essential terms.     

• As to First Medical, in the fourth quarter of 2015, TAYLOR caused MiMedx improperly to recognize $2.2 million in revenue by making an undisclosed promise to First Medical that it could return any product that it could not sell and that MiMedx would not leave First Medical with any losses.  To carry out the scheme, TAYLOR sent two emails four seconds apart to First Medical.  The first was a “cover story” that purported to require payment within a fixed period, as required by MiMedx’s accountants.  TAYLOR forwarded the first email to MiMedx’s accounting department.  The second email, sent only four seconds after the first, memorialized the true terms of the deal, which involved an agreement to defer payment and take back product if it could not be sold.  TAYLOR hid the second email from MiMedx’s internal accountants and outside auditors.  TAYLOR also arranged for a false audit “confirmation,” which falsely represented that First Medical was required to pay within a fixed period and omitted the true terms of the deal, to be provided to MiMedx’s outside auditors.

TAYLOR and Petit’s fraudulent manipulation of MiMedx’s revenue caused MiMedx to report materially inflated revenue in the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2015, and for the full year 2015.  In its 2015 10-K, MiMedx reported annual revenue that was fraudulently inflated by approximately $8.2 million.  Absent this fraudulent inflation of revenue, MiMedx would have missed both (1) its quarterly revenue guidance in the third and fourth quarters of 2015 and annual revenue guidance for 2015 and (2) analyst revenue consensus for the second through fourth quarters of 2015 and the full year 2015.  As a result of the fraud, shareholders sustained losses of approximately $35 million.

In addition to his prison term, TAYLOR, 52, of Marietta, Georgia, was ordered to pay a fine of $250,000. 

Ms. Strauss praised the investigative work of the United States Postal Inspection Service and thanked the SEC, which brought a separate civil action. 

This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward A. Imperatore, Scott A. Hartman, and Daniel M. Tracer are in charge of the prosecution.

Former CEO Of Publicly Traded Biopharmaceutical Company Sentenced For Accounting Fraud

 

 Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that PARKER H. PETIT, the former chief executive officer of MiMedx Group, Inc. (“MiMedx”), a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to one year in prison for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar scheme to fraudulently inflate MiMedx’s revenue.  PETIT and co-defendant William Taylor were found guilty on November 19, 2020, following a four-week jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who imposed today’s sentence. 

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Strauss said:  “Parker Petit used secret agreements and corrupt financial inducements with four distributors to materially misstate the quarterly and annual sales revenue of MiMedx.  He deceived the SEC, auditors, and the investing public.  Now he has been sentenced to prison for his crimes.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment and the evidence presented at trial:

MiMedx was headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, and its securities traded under the symbol “MDXG” on the NASDAQ.  MiMedx sold regenerative biologic products, such as skin grafts and amniotic fluid, both directly to end users, such as public and private hospitals, and to various stocking distributors, which, in turn, resold the product to end users. 

One of the most critical financial metrics disclosed in MiMedx’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and touted in MiMedx’s accompanying press releases, was MiMedx’s quarterly and annual sales revenue.  Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and SEC guidance, a company like MiMedx that engages in the sale of products through a distributor may recognize revenue upon transfer of the product to a distributor if certain requirements are satisfied, including that delivery has occurred or services have been rendered, the seller’s price to the buyer is fixed or determinable, and collectability of payment is reasonably assured.  PETIT and Taylor, MiMedx’s former chief operating officer, repeatedly demonstrated and touted their understanding of these rules governing revenue recognition.  They also publicly identified revenue as the principal metric reflecting MiMedx’s growth, and touted MiMedx’s consistent record of quarter-over-quarter revenue growth and meeting or exceeding revenue guidance in 17 consecutive quarters, from 2011 through year-end 2015.  By 2015, however, it became increasingly difficult for MiMedx to reach its revenue guidance due to decreased demand from certain distributors and the increasingly aggressive revenue targets that MiMedx had publicly announced. 

Confronted with the difficulties faced by MiMedx in meeting its quarterly and annual revenue guidance by legitimate means, PETIT and Taylor orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to falsely recognize revenue upon the shipment of MiMedx product to four stocking distributors, CPM, SLR, Stability Biologics (“Stability”), and First Medical, in the second through fourth quarters of 2015.  PETIT and Taylor caused MiMedx to report fraudulently inflated revenue figures to the investing public in order to ensure that the reported figures fell within MiMedx’s publicly announced revenue guidance, and to fraudulently convey to the investing public that MiMedx was accomplishing consistent growth quarter after quarter, as PETIT and Taylor had falsely touted to the investing public.  The fraudulent scheme involved the following central features:

• As to CPM, in the second quarter of 2015, PETIT and Taylor caused MiMedx fraudulently to recognize $1.4 million in revenue by (1) making a $200,000 sham “consulting” payment to CPM’s owner to bribe CPM to buy MiMedx product and (2) secretly agreeing to send CPM approximately $1.1 million of product it did not want and did not intend to sell, while promising that CPM could return the product to MiMedx and swap it for different product in a subsequent quarter.  PETIT and Taylor entered into the sham “consulting” agreement to conceal that the payment was a bribe to purchase product, and CPM’s owner performed no consulting work for the payment.  Neither PETIT nor Taylor disclosed to MiMedx’s outside auditors the “consulting” payment or product swap. 

• As to SLR, in the third quarter of 2015, PETIT and Taylor caused MiMedx fraudulently to recognize $4.6 million in revenue by booking the revenue despite understanding that SLR would not make a timely payment for the product, and certainly would not do so within contractual terms.  To hide from MiMedx’s auditors that the collectability of payment from SLR was questionable, during the fourth quarter 2015, PETIT arranged for his adult children to use a shell company to loan money to SLR (money that came from a trust fund established by PETIT for their benefit), with the understanding that the loan proceeds would be used in substantial part to pay down SLR’s debt to MiMedx.  PETIT did not disclose the loan to MiMedx’s outside auditors and made false and misleading statements to the auditors about SLR’s ability to pay MiMedx.

• As to Stability, in the third and fourth quarters of 2015, PETIT and Taylor caused MiMedx improperly to recognize $2.6 million of revenue, where they (1) failed to agree with Stability on the essential terms of the deal, including when payment was due; (2) reached a secret understanding that Stability could swap or return unwanted product in subsequent quarters; and (3) understood that Stability could not pay for the product in a timely fashion.  In fact, PETIT granted the right of return to Stability in a back-dated letter he hid from MiMedx’s internal accountants and outside auditors.     

• As to First Medical, in the fourth quarter of 2015, Taylor caused MiMedx improperly to recognize $2.2 million in revenue by making an undisclosed promise to First Medical that it could return any product that it could not sell and that MiMedx would not leave First Medical with any losses.  To carry out the scheme, Taylor sent two emails four seconds apart to First Medical.  The first was a “cover story” that purported to require payment within a fixed period, as required by MiMedx’s accountants.  Taylor forwarded the first email to MiMedx’s accounting department.  The second email, sent only four seconds after the first, memorialized the true terms of the deal, which involved an agreement to defer payment and take back product if it could not be sold.  Taylor hid the second email from MiMedx’s internal accountants and outside auditors.  Taylor also arranged for a false audit “confirmation,” which falsely represented that First Medical was required to pay within a fixed period and omitted the true terms of the deal, to be provided to MiMedx’s outside auditors.

PETIT’s and Taylor’s fraudulent manipulation of MiMedx’s revenue caused MiMedx to report materially inflated revenue in the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2015, and for the full year 2015.  In its 2015 10-K, MiMedx reported annual revenue that was fraudulently inflated by approximately $8.2 million.  Absent this fraudulent inflation of revenue, MiMedx would have missed both (1) its quarterly revenue guidance in the third and fourth quarters of 2015 and annual revenue guidance for 2015 and (2) analyst revenue consensus for the second through fourth quarters of 2015 and the full year 2015.  PETIT’s offense caused approximately $35 million in losses to MiMedx shareholders.

In addition to his prison term, PETIT, 81, of Marietta, Georgia, was ordered to pay a fine of $1 million. 

Taylor was found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, to make false statements in filings with the SEC, and to mislead auditors.  Taylor will be sentenced tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. before Judge Rakoff. 

Ms. Strauss praised the investigative work of the United States Postal Inspection Service and thanked the SEC, which brought a separate civil action. 

This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward A. Imperatore, Scott A. Hartman, and Daniel M. Tracer are in charge of the prosecution.

Assembly Member Nathalia Fernandez - Food Giveaway, February 25th

 

Hello:

On Thursday, February 25th our office will be holding a  Food Giveaway in partnership with New York Common Pantry, Lexa Bar and garden, and Senator Jamaal T. Bailey

The giveaway will be held at Lexa Bar and Garden, 357 East 204th Street - between 3:30pm - 5:00pm

*While Supplies Last*

We encourage all to attend and to let your families, neighbors, and friends know as well. 

Best Regards,

New York State Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez

Governor Cuomo Announces Lowest Single-Day COVID-19 Positivity Rate since November 21 - FEBRUARY 24, 2021

 

Statewide Positivity Rate is 2.85%

5,876 Patient Hospitalizations Statewide

1,154 Patients in the ICU; 800 Intubated

99 COVID-19 Deaths in New York State Yesterday

 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the COVID-19 positivity rate was 2.85 percent yesterday, the lowest since November 21.

"New Yorkers have shown courage and fortitude in the face of this unprecedented pandemic, and it's thanks to them that we're seeing a decline in hospitalizations and in the COVID positivity rate," Governor Cuomo said. "The vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel and we're continuing to aggressively expand our statewide network of distribution sites, but we need more supply to thoroughly vaccinate the population and begin our transition to a post-pandemic world. That means that until we have enough supply, New Yorkers should continue practicing the safe behaviors that have made such a difference fighting in this virus so far—wash your hands, wear a mask, practice social distancing and stay safe."

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

• Test Results Reported - 216,813
• Total Positive - 6,189
• Percent Positive - 2.85%
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 3.36%
• Patient Hospitalization - 5,876 (-101)
• Net Change Patient Hospitalization Past Week - -698
• Patients Newly Admitted - 678
• Hospital Counties - 55
• Number ICU - 1,154 (-22)
• Number ICU with Intubation - 800 (+1)
• Total Discharges - 143,659 (+588)
• Deaths - 99
• Total Deaths - 38,135

Mayor Bill de Blasio - Tomorrow Middle Schools Will Reopen, and COVID-19 Indicators

 

 Good morning, everyone. Well, I am very excited that tomorrow our New York City public schools, our middle schools will be reopening. And once we reopen, we are going the distance and we're looking forward to September when all our kids are going to be back. This is really an important moment, bringing back our middle school kids, getting them in the classroom, giving them an opportunity to learn from talented, committed, passionate educators. People who really care about what they're doing. School staff that cares for them, looks out for them, looks out for their academic needs, looks out for their emotional needs as well. This is why it's so important to have kids back. So middle school kids come back tomorrow. And that's going to be great. And it's a reminder of why it is right to have kids in school. This is a discussion happening all over the country. Let me be as clear as I could be, kids need to be back in school as quickly as possible. And it is so good for them, for their health and wellbeing for families. Hey, remember the spring? Remember all of the dislocation, all the pain caused by school not being there? Remember how many families struggled, trying to make it work? Remember our educators trying somehow to put together a remote system, learning, distance learning. And again, God bless our educators and our school staff and everyone at the Department of Education, they did it in the spring. They came up with something that had never been done before. But no one thinks that compares to in-person learning. So, we're moving forward, bringing our middle school kids back tomorrow. And then we want to go farther and we want to get ready for a really, really great September when everyone's back.  

   

And the reason this has worked is because we set the highest standards in this nation. A lot of cities didn't even dare to reopen their schools. We said, we're going to do it. It's the New York way. We're going to do great things. We're going to do what other people don't dare to do, but we're going to do it by setting the highest standards. So, we took the very best ideas from around the world, the highest health and safety standards, we created a single gold standard. And what's amazing is the New York City example is now being lauded all over the country as the way to open schools. In fact, so much so that the Centers for Disease Control, when they put out their school guidelines, they borrowed heavily from the New York City approach. And what we did here in New York City, what we proved here in New York City became the foundation for the national standards.  

   

Let's go over those CDC guidelines to give you a sense of how they connect. Number one, here are the key strategies the CDC says all school systems in America should be doing. Number one, universal and correct use of masks, universal use of masks, kids and adults alike. Check, we did that. Number two, physical distancing in all elements of the school. We did that. Number three, hand washing and respiratory etiquette. We did that, hand sanitizer everywhere. We did that from the very beginning. We keep doing that. Number four, clean and well-ventilated spaces, constant cleanings, careful attention to ventilation. We did that. And number five, focus on contact tracing, when necessary using quarantining. We'd done that from the beginning with the biggest Test and Trace Corps in America. That's been doing an amazing job. And with our situation room and thanks to everyone in the situation room for the incredible work you've done, making sure that there is an issue in a school, it's addressed right away. What we did became the gold standard for the entire United States of America. And we're very proud. I'm proud of all the people who did that work. Now, we got to keep going. And it means continuing to do testing at the highest level anywhere, weekly testing, all schools. Obviously, getting more and more folks in the schools vaccinated over time. But we have proven it works because New York City public schools are the safest places to be in New York City right now. And the numbers keep proving it.  

   

Now, today we hit an important milestone and this commitment to testing, something a lot of other school systems didn't do. We said we would do testing constantly. Today, in our public schools, we'll get to the 500,000th test of a student or staff member. 500,000, half a million tests have been given in our New York City public schools since the beginning of the school year. That commitment to testing has been one of the reasons the schools have been so safe. And we believe in it and we know it makes a huge difference. I want to thank everyone who's been involved in the testing in the schools. I want to thank everyone who's helped us get it done. We worked closely with our union partners. We've educated and reached out to parents and we've gotten a great response. And so, testing is one of the reasons that gold standard works. And we're going to keep building on that. So, school coming back tomorrow, another step forward in this recovery. And remember, a recovery of New York City requires our public schools to come back strong. A recovery for all of us means our public schools are there for our kids in every community. That's why I am adamant our public schools need to be fully opened in September.  

   

Okay. Let me give you an update obviously, on vaccines. We talk about it every day. This is the crucial piece of the equation. We still lack supply. It's the constant story, but I do believe things are starting to get better. And I'm really, really hopeful about what we're hearing about the Johnson and Johnson supply, which could make a huge difference for us even as early as the month of March. But let me give you an update on the numbers, as of today vaccinations given in New York City from day one, 1,578,362 doses. And again, we're ready to take that up to a much higher level quickly, so long as we get that supply. Now, when it comes to vaccination, we're focused on equity. We're focused on making sure that people who have been in the neighborhoods that suffered the most from COVID, get access to the vaccination, get the support they need the information they need, the answers they need, the outreach they need. 75 percent of our City-run vaccination sites are in the priority neighborhoods. The ones that bore the brunt of COVID, the ones where we saw the most death and devastation. That's where we're focusing. And we're seeing really good results. More and more people choosing to get vaccinated because the sites are right there in the community being run by people from the community, which gives people faith. It gives them trust in the process. We really focused on public housing and in NYCHA, we've had already, 19 vaccination sites. I was out at Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn on Sunday, great operation there. I saw really, really happy people. People were happy to be helping their neighbors, who were in that vaccination site, running it. And folks from Red Hook Houses, residents who came right there in their own community, got vaccinated, believed in it. Now they're going to tell their neighbors, their family, their friends, how important it is to get vaccinated. This is how we build up momentum. And all of the folks who have been vaccinated, we're going to be bringing them back for their second doses right there in the community, at those same sites. So, this is something I'm really excited about. It's making a big difference. We're adding more sites later this week, seven more sites in public housing later this week. And we're going to continue expanding deeper and deeper into New York City public housing, reaching people who need help the most.     

  

All right, everyone, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number – excuse me, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 275 patients with a confirmed positivity level of 64.83 percent. And the hospitalization rate, 4.10 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,241. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 7.15 percent.